Lost in Translation

The movie Lost in Translation finally arrived in Finland recently and without exaggeration I must admit that it is one of 3 or 4 movies I have ever seen and immediately wanted the DVD. Aside from the sparse dialogue that is crisp, excellent performances from Bill Murry and Scarlett Johansson, and cinematography that helps to tell the story instead of trying to impress the viewers, there was an insight to the human condition that is rarely ever explored with such frankness in film; What happens when you lose your sense of place and belonging?

Expats are not so unlike the characters in the movie as we are strangers in strange lands with varying degrees of isolation and feelings of being lost. Often expats don't feel at home in their own country and go in search of someplace that should feel like home but don't always find it. The sense of dislocation in LiT is only emphasized not created by the Tokyo landscape and Japanese language barrier.

A lot of reviewers call this movie a love story of sorts, but I saw two expats, one young and one much older, who are adrift in themselves and in their lives without a place they can call home or people who will listen and understand them. Maybe they are people who never made friends very easily or haven't yet figured out what they want out of life. What is often labeled as 'wanderlust' or 'nomadic' is likely a desire to find the missing niche or some meaning in life. Some people, like Bob, have been looking for a long time. The elevator scene in which Bill Murry looms over the Japanese businessmen is a brilliant dialogue-free moment that beautifully captures the sense of being apart, of being different than everyone else, of feeling exposed, of being alone.

Perhaps the most profound feature of the two lost souls in LiT is the lack of intimacy with everyone around them. Charlotte calls a friend at a low point who puts her on hold whereupon she clues in that this is not someone with whom she can divulge her feelings of desolation. Intimacy is becoming a rare experience in life, even Bob and Charlotte possess it only briefly before moving on. You find yourself wondering if Charlotte will still be as lost at Bob's age since it's clear he has seen a bit of his own lost youth in hers.

24 Feb 2004 at 0:17, Helsinki